Appeals court backs stewards in disqualification of Maximum Security from Kentucky Derby
LEXINGTON, Ky. – A U.S. appeals court has upheld a ruling that disallowed judicial review of the stewards’ decision to disqualify Maximum Security from first place in the 2019 Kentucky Derby.
The 14-page ruling by Judge John K. Bush of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati is likely to put an end to litigation over the disqualification. In the ruling, Bush said that racing licensees agree to abide by the rules of racing as a condition of licensure, and that those rules state explicitly that stewards’ decisions cannot be litigated.
“Kentucky law provides that ‘the conduct of horse racing, or the participation in any way in horse racing’ ... is a privilege and not a personal right; and that the privilege may be granted or denied by the racing commission or its duly approved representatives acting in its behalf,” Bush wrote. “As a condition of maintaining a Thoroughbred racing license in Kentucky, the Wests agreed to ‘abide by this administrative regulation’ and ‘abide by all rulings and decisions of the stewards and commission.’ ”
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The owners of Maximum Security, Gary and Mary West, had first appealed the decision to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, which rejected the appeal. The Wests then went to federal court, but a U.S. District Court judge last year dismissed the lawsuit on the same grounds as Bush.
Maximum Security was the first horse to be disqualified from first place in the Kentucky Derby for interference. He was placed 17th as a result of the disqualification. Second-place finisher Country House was declared the winner
Racing regulators gave the appeal by the Wests little chance to succeed, but the threat of a decision that would allow stewards’ decisions to be litigated had created some anxiety.
Bush was clear in his ruling that the Wests had no recourse under the law.
“What should have been the fastest two minutes in sport turned into over a year of litigation,” Bush wrote. “Neither Kentucky law nor the Fourteenth Amendment allows for judicial second-guessing of the stewards’ call.”